The Washington, D.C. Center for Filmmaking is placed in the middle of a growing area of different uses, on the block bordered by 8th, 9th G and H streets. Across G street, the old Patent Office now houses the national Museum of American Art and the National Portrait Gallery. Churches, schools, and other buildings for study exist in the blocks directly surrounding the proposed buildings and the Martin Luther King Library. The Washington Convention Center and Techworld allow space for large exhibitions and trade shows. Also, office space and the shops and restaurants of Chinatown are just one block east. Access to the site by Metro is across G street at the Gallery Pace Metro stop.

The Center for Filmmaking addresses the street with commercial store-fronts of shops or restaurants, accessible from the street as well as from the interior gathering space. The building attempts to embrace the framework of the city openly. The main entry into the gathering space is off the major street of the site, 9th Street. Service access is off of the least traveled street, 8th Street.